S&P 500 Futures Rise 0.6% After U.S. Stocks Fall as Inflation Weighs
Key Facts
S&P 500 futures rose 0.6% and Dow Jones futures gained 0.2% in early trading on Wednesday, November 11, according to the Associated Press, with U.S. stock markets open on Veterans Day. The move followed Tuesday’s session, when the S&P 500 lost about 0.4%, the Dow Jones fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.7%. Consumer price data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a monthly increase in October, weighing on stocks in the previous session. At the same time, the data showed the headline index’s monthly increase slowed from September, while the core index was unchanged. Futures thus reflected an attempt to recover after Tuesday’s losses, as inflation remained a focus for investors.
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis in October, following a 0.6% increase in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The index excluding food and energy rose 0.3% in October, the same monthly increase recorded in September and August. The unadjusted index level for all items was 337.511, based on 1982–84=100. This level distinguishes the index value from its rate of change, as it does not by itself represent a monthly or annual comparison. The report said October 2025 data were not collected because of a lapse in government funding, so the bureau did not publish the year-over-year change for some October 2026 indexes.
Among price components, the shelter index rose 0.3% in October and accounted for more than 30% of the monthly increase in the all-items index, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The food index also rose 0.5%, while the energy index increased 0.7% during the month. These components show that the monthly increase was not limited to one category, with shelter remaining the largest contributor cited in the rise in the all-items index. Economist Ricardo Treitzi estimated that consumer prices rose 4% year over year in October, compared with 3.7% in September, using approximate estimates for October data from the previous year. The report said the annual figure is an approximate estimate, as the usual official comparison was unavailable after data for the same month last year could not be collected.
Inflation’s pressure on stocks coincided with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rising to 4.99% at Tuesday’s close, from 4.88% at Monday’s close, according to the Associated Press. The U.S. bond market was closed Wednesday for Veterans Day, while stock markets continued trading. Separately from futures trading, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in prepared remarks on Wednesday that Washington’s goal is to "de-risk, not decouple" trade with China. Bessent linked the approach to rebalancing trade, saying the U.S. economy had become too dependent on foreign supplies while China had grown more reliant on external demand. He added that the U.S. trade deficit with China was a source of friction, as the two governments continued discussing how to manage their economic relationship and competition.
Bessent said upcoming U.S.-China dialogue on superintelligence would cover sharing best practices for evaluating and testing advanced models before their release, while keeping human judgment at the forefront of decisions involving the technology. He added that the two sides had agreed to establish a direct channel for mutual alerts about serious AI-related incidents. Bessent is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Shenzhen on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit on November 18 and 19. He said the meeting would advance a new bilateral dialogue on superintelligence, alongside trade issues. For upcoming economic data, the Bureau of Labor Statistics scheduled the November Consumer Price Index release for December 10, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.